For the 2012 financial year, the group reported revenue growth in all of its European markets bar Denmark, while earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization increased everywhere except Sweden.

The company also said that it expects “further progress in the transition to a non-subsidized handset model” to lead to additional improvements in 2013.

Operators have been subsidizing more expensive smartphone devices with the aim of transferring customers on to pricier services, but the practice has squeezed their profit margins.

Arguing that consumers have grown frustrated with the lack of pricing transparency around subsidy-based offers, T-Mobile USA (Bellevue, WA, USA) this week launched a new tariff that separates device costs from service fees and does not require customers to sign a contract.

Steps in the same direction may have worked to the advantage of 3 Group Europe, which claimed to have added 2.1 million customers in 2012, compared with just 1.3 million in 2011.

In the large UK market, 3 was the fastest-growing operator last year, adding 900,000 customers to give it around 9.1 million in total.